5. i kept and emergency box of Mike and Ike's around the first 2 weeks and ate them

Edited on Wed Nov-12-08 02:13 PM by chimpsrsmarter

when i felt the urge, it might have slowed me down by a little bit in terms of weight loss but i knew denying all verboten foods would not work for me so i changed things when i felt the need. The first 4 days sucked big time though, i had a migraine and i was almost about to give up but on day 5 i woke up and it was gone.

Series! Since he ended up being okay it's a funny story. He was trying to impress some woman so even though he is massively overweight (100+ lbs) and out of shape he pushed his way through the spinning class until the end. My understanding of it is that the acid produced by the muscle exertion overwhelmed his kidneys and shut them down. I think he was in the hospital for 4 or 5 days and there was talk of needing dialysis. So the moral we took away from this story is that exercise can kill ya.

I'm almost 54 and I spent YEARS on fad diets in my 20s and 30s. There were really stupid ones back then: the Stilton Diet, the Scarsdale Diet, and my personal favourite: The starve-yourself-until-you're-brain-chemistry-goes-nutso-and-you're-ready-to-eat-the-window-treatments-but-you're-too-weak-to-get-out-of-bed Diet.

Yeah. That's a REAL good way to lose weight and keep it off for the rest of your life.

Anyway, I started off not even fat: I'm 6'1" and weighed 150, but since I thought I should be a size 0 like a supermodel, I did everything stupid and ended up sabotaging myself. By the time I was 36 I weighed 190. I couldn't even imagine exercising because I sucked at aerobics and hated the gym. But I discovered cycling, started running again, and even though initially I was slow and breathless, the body adapts.

I made it thru a bad divorce in my 40s and gained 15 pounds last year at the tail end of menopause, but I'm back to 155 lbs and loving the gym and biking around San Francisco.

I only share this story because I am the LAST person who would ever consider myself in good shape or athletic just a few years ago. But if you find something you love to do, it doesn't feel like exercise--and I could never have gotten back into shape at my age by diet alone!

Get a walking group together, or a street hockey team, or else if you're a loner like me, an IPod and a treadmill work just fine! You're not competing with anyone, just out to have fun!

The rest falls into place. You automatically start eating better and feeling great!

12. I used the Atkins diet to lose 40+ lbs. and have kept the weight off for over 4 years.

The first two weeks were a challenge, but the weight fell away so fast that it made it easier to stick with it. The only modifications I make to my diet now is using Splenda in my coffee, rarely eat bread and try to see that I put more vegetables on my plate than I do high-carb foods.

No recommendation here, just my experience. I have met people who lost weight on it and I've met people who weren't able to stick with it. There has been a lot of negative press about the Atkins diet.

I did that (in two increments) for about 6-8 months and dropped about 75 pounds. It was probably a little over-ambitious; it's hard to eat a balanced diet on 1200 calories/day. I'd suggest something closer to 1500. It worked, though, and it stayed off. I think it actually inadvertently hosed up my metabolism. I now can't gain weight unless I eat a ton and don't move. It's weird. Maybe it's bad advice, actually.

My life recently became very stressful and in turn I had to change my whole life style. I cut out all sodas and absolutely all candy. I ate nutritionally but very small portions. And most of all I went out and cleaned yards(for exercise) so that I could sweat out all the impurities that were built up in my body. And I drank water all day long as much as I could handle. About 20 days went by and everybody started griping at me for how much weight I was losing. I had lost over 20 pounds and didn't even realize it because of how stressed out I was.

So maybe if you are the active type all you need to do is cut back on sodas and sweets and drinks lots of water and eat smaller portions for a couple of weeks. It worked for me. But it could have been mainly due to the high stress level so I'm not sure it will work for anyone else, but it couldn't hurt to try.

I recommend the "eat less crap and more fruit and veg's" diet. Costs nothing, eat till you are full if it's fruit and fresh veg's. Stop eating crap like snacks, sodas, etc. Easiest diet to maintain, add just a little exercise, and you will lose big time with little strain. I had been trying to lose weight for years, finally got the right combination.FWIW, I HATE diet food, and don't eat it - just eat more good stuff.Works great.Most "special food" diets are bullshit.mark

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